The Lies of Locke Lamora 50 Page Friday

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THE LIES
of
LOCKE
LAMORA
SCOT T LYNCH
DEL REY NEW YORK

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P R O L O G U E
T H E B O Y W H O STO L E TO O M U C H
1
AT THE HEIGHT of the long wet summer of the
Seventy-seventh Year of Sendovani, the Thiefmaker of
Camorr paid a sudden and unannounced visit to the
Eyeless Priest at the Temple of Perelandro, desperately
hoping to sell him the Lamora boy.
Have I got a deal for you! the Thiefmaker be-
gan, perhaps inauspiciously.
Another deal like Calo and Galdo, maybe? said
the Eyeless Priest. Ive still got my hands full training
those giggling idiots out of every bad habit they
picked up from you and replacing them with the bad
habits I need.
Now, Chains. The Thiefmaker shrugged. I told
you they were shit-flinging little monkeys when we
made the deal, and it was good enough for you at
the
Or maybe another deal like Sabetha? The
priests richer, deeper voice chased the Thiefmakers
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objection right back down his throat. Im sure you

recall charging me everything but my dead mothers
kneecaps for her. I shouldve paid you in copper and
watched you spring a rupture trying to haul it all
away.
Ahhhhhh, but she was special, and this boy, hes
special, too, said the Thiefmaker. Everything you
asked me to look for after I sold you Calo and Galdo.
Everything you liked so much about Sabetha! Hes
Camorri, but a mongrel. Therin and Vadran blood
with neither dominant. Hes got larceny in his heart,
sure as the seas full of fish piss. And I can even let you
have him at a . . . a discount.
The Eyeless Priest spent a long moment mulling
this. Youll pardon me, he finally said, if the sug-
gestion that the minuscule black turnip you call a
heart is suddenly overflowing with generosity toward
me leaves me wanting to arm myself and put my back
against a wall.
The Thiefmaker tried to let a vaguely sincere ex-
pression scurry onto his face, where it froze in evident
discomfort. His shrug was theatrically casual. There
are, ah, problems with the boy, yes. But the problems
are unique to his situation in my care. Were he under
yours, Im sure they would, ahhhh, vanish.
Oh. You have a magic boy. Why didnt you say
so? The priest scratched his forehead beneath the
white silk blindfold that covered his eyes. Magnifi-
cent. Ill plant him in the fucking ground and grow a
vine to an enchanted land beyond the clouds.
Ahhhhh! Ive tasted that flavor of sarcasm before,
Chains. The Thiefmaker gave an arthritic mock bow.
Thats the sort you spit out as a bargaining posture.
Is it really so hard to say that youre interested?
The Eyeless Priest shrugged. Suppose Calo,
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THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 3
Galdo, and Sabetha might be able to use a new play-

mate, or at least a new punching bag. Suppose Im
willing to spend about three coppers and a bowl of
piss for a mystery boy. But youll still need to convince
me that you deserve the bowl of piss. Whats the boys
problem?
His problem, said the Thiefmaker, is that if I
cant sell him to you, Im going to have to slit his
throat and throw him in the bay. And Im going to
have to do it tonight.
ON THE night the Lamora boy had come to live under

the Thiefmakers care, the old graveyard on Shades
Hill had been full of children, standing at silent atten-
tion and waiting for their new brothers and sisters to
be led down into the mausoleums.
The Thiefmakers wards all carried candles; their
cold blue light shone through the silver curtains of
river mist as streetlamps might glimmer through a
smoke-grimed window. A chain of ghostlight wound
its way down from the hilltop, through the stone
markers and ceremonial paths, down to the wide glass
bridge over the Coalsmoke Canal, half-visible in the
blood-warm fog that seeps up from Camorrs wet
bones on summer nights.
Come now, my loves, my jewels, my newly-
founds, keep the pace, whispered the Thiefmaker as
he nudged the last of the thirty or so Catchfire or-
phans over the Coalsmoke Bridge. These lights are
just your new friends, come to guide your way up my
hill. Move now, my treasures. Theres darkness wast-
ing, and we have so much to talk about.
In rare moments of vain reflection, the Thiefmaker
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thought of himself as an artist. A sculptor, to be pre-

cise, with orphans as his clay and the old graveyard on
Shades Hill as his studio.
Eighty-eight thousand souls generated a certain
steady volume of waste; this waste included a constant
trickle of lost, useless, and abandoned children.
Slavers took some of them, hauling them off to Tal
Verrar or the Jeremite Islands. Slavery was technically
illegal in Camorr, of course, but the act of enslavement
itself was winked at, if there was no one left to speak
for the victim.
So, slavers got some, and plain stupidity took a
few more. Starvation and the diseases it brought were
also common ways to go, for those who lacked the
courage or the skill to pluck a living from the city
around them. And then, of course, those with courage
but no skill often wound up swinging from the Black
Bridge in front of the Palace of Patience. The dukes
magistrates disposed of little thieves with the same
rope they used on bigger ones, though they did see to
it that the little ones went over the side of the bridge
with weights tied to their ankles to help them hang
properly.
Any orphans left after dicing with all of those col-
orful possibilities were swept up by the Thiefmakers
own crew, one at a time or in small, frightened groups.
Soon enough they would learn what sort of life
awaited them beneath the graveyard that was the
heart of his realm, where seven score of cast-off chil-
dren bent the knee to a single bent old man.
Quick-step, my lovelies, my new sons and daugh-
ters; follow the line of lights and step to the top. Were
almost home, almost fed, almost washed up and bed-
ded down. Out of the rain and the mist and the stink-
ing heat.
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Plagues were a time of special opportunity for the

Thiefmaker, and the Catchfire orphans had crawled
away from his very favorite sort: Black Whisper. It fell
on the Catchfire district from points unknown, and
the quarantine had gone up (death by clothyard shaft
for anyone trying to cross a canal or escape on a boat)
in time to save the rest of the city from everything but
unease and paranoia. Black Whisper meant a miser-
able death for anyone over the age of eleven or twelve
(as near as physikers could figure, for the plague was
not content to reap by overly firm rules) and a few
days of harmless swollen eyes and red cheeks for any-
one younger.
By the fifth day of the quarantine, there were no
more screams and no more attempted canal crossings,
so Catchfire evaded the namesake fate that had be-
fallen it so many times before in years of pestilence. By
the eleventh day, when the quarantine was lifted and
the dukes Ghouls went in to survey the mess, perhaps
one in eight of the four hundred children previously
living there had survived the wait. They had already
formed gangs for mutual protection, and had learned
certain cruel necessities of life without adults.
The Thiefmaker was waiting as they were cor-
ralled and led out from the sinister silence of their old
neighborhood.
He paid good silver for the best thirty, and even
more good silver for the silence of the Ghouls and
constables he relieved of the children. Then he led
them, dazed and hollow-cheeked and smelling like
hell, into the dark steambath mists of the Camorri
night, toward the old graveyard on Shades Hill.
The Lamora boy was the youngest and smallest of
the lot, five or six years old, nothing but jutting bones
under skin rich with dirt and hollow angles. The
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Thiefmaker hadnt even chosen him; the boy had sim-

ply crept away with the others as though he belonged.
The Thiefmaker was not unaware of this, but hed
lived the sort of life in which even a single free plague
orphan was a windfall not to be overlooked.
It was the summer of the Seventy-seventh Year of
Gandolo, Father of Opportunities, Lord of Coin and
Commerce. The Thiefmaker padded through the
shrouded night, shepherding his ragged line of chil-
dren.
In just two years he would be all but begging Fa-
ther Chains, the Eyeless Priest, to take the Lamora boy
off his handsand sharpening his knives in case the
priest refused.
THE EYELESS Priest scratched his gray-stubbled

throat. No shit?
None whatsoever. The Thiefmaker reached
down the front of a doublet that was several years
past merely shabby and pulled out a leather pouch on
a fine leather cord; the pouch was dyed the rust red of
dried blood. Already went to the big man and got
permission. Ill do the boy ear to ear and send him for
teeth lessons.
Gods. Its a sob story after all. For an Eyeless
Priest, the fingers he jabbed into the Thiefmakers ster-
num struck swift and sure. Find some other lackwit
to shackle with the chains of your conscience.
Conscience can go piss up a chimney, Chains. Im
talking avarice, yours and mine. I cant keep the boy,
and Im offering you a unique opportunity. A genuine
bargain.
If the boys too unruly to keep, why cant you just
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pound some wisdom into him and let him ripen to a

proper age of sale?
Out of the question, Chains. Limited options. I
cant just slap him around, because I cant let any of
the other little shits know what hes, ahhh, done. If
any of them had the slightest inclination to pull what
hes pulled . . . gods! Id never be able to control them
again. I can either kill him quick, or sell him quicker.
No profit versus a paltry sum. So guess which one I
prefer?
The boys done something you cant even men-
tion in front of the others? Chains massaged his fore-
head above the blindfold and sighed. Shit. This
sounds like something I might actually be interested in
hearing.
AN OLD Camorri proverb has it that the only con-

stant in the soul of man is inconstancy; anything and
everything else can pass out of fashion even some-
thing as utilitarian as a hill stuffed full of corpses.
Shades Hill was the first graveyard of quality in
Camorrs history, ideally situated to keep the bones of
the formerly well-fed above the salty grasp of the Iron
Sea. Yet over time, the balance of power shifted in the
families of vault-carvers and morticians and profes-
sional pallbearers; fewer and fewer of the quality were
interred on Shades Hill, as the nearby Hill of Whis-
pers offered more room for larger and gaudier monu-
ments with commensurately higher commissions.
Wars, plagues, and intrigues ensured that the number
of living families with monuments to tend on Shades
Hill dropped steadily over the decades. Eventually, the
only regular visitors were the priests and priestesses of
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Aza Guilla, who sleep in tombs during their appren-

ticeships, and the homeless orphans who squatted in
the dust and darkness of the ill-tended burial vaults.
The Thiefmaker (though of course he wasnt
known as such just yet) had wound up sharing one of
these vaults at the low point of his life, when he was
nothing but a miserable curiositya pickpocket with
nine broken fingers.
At first, his relationship with the Shades Hill or-
phans was half-bullying and half-pleading; some ves-
tigial need for an authority figure kept them from
killing him in his sleep. For his part, he grudgingly be-
gan to explain to them some of the tricks of his trade.
As his fingers slowly mended (after a fashion, for
most of them would forever resemble twice-broken
twigs), he began to impart more and more of his
crooked wisdom onto the dirty children who dodged
the rain and the city watch with him. Their numbers
increased, as did their income, and they began to
make more room for themselves in the wet stone
chambers of the old graveyard.
In time, the brittle-boned pickpocket became the
Thiefmaker, and Shades Hill became his kingdom.
The Lamora boy and his fellow Catchfire orphans
entered this kingdom some twenty years after its
founding. What they saw that night was a graveyard
no deeper than the dirt piled above the old tombs. A
great network of tunnels and galleries had been dug
between the major vaults, their hard-packed walls
threaded with supports like the ribs of long-dead
wooden dragons. The previous occupants had all been
quietly disinterred and dropped into the bay. Shades
Hill was now an ant-mound of orphan thieves.
Down the black mouth of the topmost mausoleum
the Catchfire orphans went, down the wood-ribbed
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tunnel lit by the flickering silver fire of cool alchemical

globes, with greasy tendrils of mist chasing at their an-
kles. Shades Hill orphans watched them from every
nook and warren, their eyes cold but curious. The
thick tunnel air was saturated with the smells of night
soil and stale bodiesan odor the Catchfire orphans
soon multiplied with their own presence.
In! In, cried the Thiefmaker, rubbing his hands
together. My home, your home, and welcome to it!
Here we all have one thing in commonno mothers
and no fathers. Alas for that, but now youll have as
many sisters and brothers as you can need, and dry
earth over your head. A place . . . a family.
A train of Shades Hill orphans swept down the
tunnel in his wake, snuffing their eerie blue candles as
they went, until only the silver radiance of the wall-
globes remained to light the way.
At the heart of the Thiefmakers realm was a vast,
warm hollow with a packed dirt floor, perhaps twice
the height of a tall man, thirty yards wide and long. A
single high-backed chair of oiled black witchwood
stood against the far wall; the Thiefmaker eased him-
self into this with a grateful sigh.
Dozens of grotty blankets were set out on the floor,
covered with food: bowls of bony chicken marinated
in cheap almond wine, soft thresher-fish tails wrapped
in bacon and soaked in vinegar, and brown bread fla-
vored with sausage grease. There were also salted peas
and lentils as well as bowls of past-ripe tomatoes and
pears. Poor stuff, in truth, but in a quantity and vari-
ety most of the Catchfire orphans had never seen be-
fore. Their attack on the meal was immediate and
uncoordinated; the Thiefmaker smiled indulgently.
Im not stupid enough to get between you and a
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10 SCOTT LYNCH
decent meal, my dears. So eat your fill; eat more than

your fill. Make up for lost time. Well talk after.
As the Catchfire orphans stuffed their faces, the
Shades Hill orphans crowded in around them, watch-
ing and saying nothing. Soon the chamber was packed
and the air grew staler still. The feasting continued un-
til there was literally nothing left; the survivors of the
Black Whisper sucked the last vinegar and grease from
their fingers and then turned their eyes warily to the
Thiefmaker and his minions. The Thiefmaker held up
three crooked fingers, as though on cue.
Business! he cried. Three items of business.
Youre here because I paid for you. I paid extra to get
to you before anyone else could. I can assure you that
every single one of your little friends that I didnt pay
for has gone to the slavers. Theres nothing else to be
done with orphans. No place to keep you, nobody to
take you in. The watch sells your sort for wine money,
my dears; watch-sergeants neglect to mention you in
their reports, and watch-captains neglect to give a shit.
And, he continued, now that the Catchfire
quarantines lifted, every slaver and would-be slaver in
Camorr is going to be very excited and very alert.
Youre free to get up and leave this hill any time you
see fitwith my confident assurance that youll soon
be sucking cocks or chained to an oar for the rest of
your life.
Which leads me to my second point. All of my
friends you see around youhe gestured to the
Shades Hill orphans lined up against the wallscan
leave whenever they please, and mostly go wherever
they please, because they are under my protection. I
know, he said with a long and solemn face, that I
am nothing especially formidable when considered as
an individual, but do not be misled. I have powerful
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friends, my dears. What I offer is security by virtue of

those friends. Should anyonea slaver, for example
dare to set a hand on one of my Shades Hill boys or
girls, well . . . the consequences would be immediate,
and gratifyingly, ahhh, merciless.
When none of his newcomers seemed appropri-
ately enthusiastic, the Thiefmaker cleared his throat.
Id have the miserable fucking bastards killed.
Savvy?
They were indeed.
Which brings us neatly to my third item of inter-
estnamely, all of you. This little family always needs
new brothers and sisters, and you may consider your-
selves invitedencouraged, no lessto, ahhh, conde-
scend to offer us the pleasure of your intimate and
permanent acquaintance. Make this hill your home,
myself your master, and these fine boys and girls your
trusted siblings. Youll be fed, sheltered, and pro-
tected. Or you can leave right now and end up as fresh
fruit in some whorehouse in Jerem. Any takers?
None of the newcomers said anything.
I knew I could count on you, my dear, dear
Catchfire jewels. The Thiefmaker spread his arms
wide and smiled, revealing a half-moon of teeth
brown as swampwater. But of course, there must be
responsibilities. There must be give and take, like for
like. Food doesnt sprout from my asshole. Chamber
pots dont empty themselves. Catch my meaning?
There were hesitant nods from about half the
Catchfire orphans.
The rules are simple! Youll learn them all in good
time. For now, lets keep it like this. Anybody who
eats, works. Anyone who works, eats. Which brings
us to my fourth . . . Oh, dear. Children, children. Do an
absentminded old man the favor of imagining that he
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held up four fingers. This is my fourth important

point.
Now, weve got our chores here on the hill, but
weve got chores elsewhere that also need doing.
Other jobs . . . delicate jobs, unusual jobs. Fun and in-
teresting jobs. All about the city, some by day and
some by night. They will require courage, deftness,
and, ahhh, discretion. We would so love to have your
assistance with these . . . special tasks.
He pointed to the one boy he hadnt paid for, the
small hanger-on, now staring up at him with hard,
sullen eyes above a mouth still plastered with tomato
innards.
You, surplus boy, thirty-first of thirty. What say
you? Are you the helpful sort? Are you willing to as-
sist your new brothers and sisters with their interest-
ing work?
The boy mulled this over for a few seconds.
You mean, he said in a high thin voice, that
you want us to steal things.
The old man stared down at the little boy for a
very long time while a number of the Shades Hill or-
phans giggled behind their hands.
Yes, the Thiefmaker said at last, nodding slowly.
I might just mean thatthough you have a very,
ahhh, uncompromising view of a certain exercise of
personal initiative that we prefer to frame in more art-
fully indeterminate terms. Not that I expect that to
mean anything to you. Whats your name, boy?
Lamora.
Your parents must have been misers, to give you
nothing but a surname. What else did they call you?
The boy seemed to think very deeply about this.
Im called Locke, he finally said. After my fa-
ther.
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Very good. Rolls right off the tongue, it does.

Well, Locke-after-your-father Lamora, you come here
and have a word with me. The rest of you, shuffle off.
Your brothers and sisters will show you where youll
be sleeping tonight. Theyll also show you where to
empty this and where to put that chores, if you
savvy. Just to tidy this hall up for now, but therell be
more jobs for you in the days to come. I promise it will
all make sense by the time you find out what they call
me in the world beyond our little hill.
Locke moved to stand beside the Thiefmaker on
his high-backed throne; the throng of newcomers rose
and milled about until larger, older Shades Hill or-
phans began collaring them and issuing simple in-
structions. Soon enough, Locke and the master of
Shades Hill were as alone as they could hope to be.
My boy, the Thiefmaker said, Im used to hav-
ing to train a certain reticence out of my new sons and
daughters when they first arrive in Shades Hill. Do
you know what reticence is?
The Lamora boy shook his head. His greasy dust-
brown bangs were plastered down atop his round lit-
tle face, and the tomato stains around his mouth had
grown drier and more unseemly. The Thiefmaker
dabbed delicately at these stains with one cuff of his
tattered blue coat; the boy didnt flinch.
It means theyve been told that stealing things is
bad, and I need to work around that until they get
used to the idea, savvy? Well, you dont seem to suffer
from any such reticence, so you and I might just get
along. Stolen before, have you?
The boy nodded.
Before the plague, even?
Another nod.
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Thought so. My dear, dear boy . . . you didnt,

ahhh, lose your parents to the plague, now, did you?
The boy looked down at his feet and barely shook
his head.
So youve already been, ahhh, looking after your-
self for some time. Its nothing to be ashamed of, now.
It might even secure you a place of some respect here,
if only I can find a means to put you to the test. . . .
By way of response, the Lamora boy reached un-
der his rags and held something out to the Thiefmaker.
Two small leather purses fell into the old mans open
palm cheap things, stiff and stained, with frayed
cords around their necks.
Where did you get these, then?
The watchmen, Locke whispered. Some of the
watchmen picked us up and carried us.
The Thiefmaker jerked back as though an asp had
just sunk its fangs into his spine, and stared down at
the purses with disbelief. You lifted these from the
fucking city watch? From the yellowjackets?
Locke nodded, more enthusiastically. They picked
us up and carried us.
Gods, the Thiefmaker whispered. Oh, gods.
You may have just fucked us all superbly, Locke-after-
your-father Lamora. Quite superbly indeed.
HE BROKE the Secret Peace the first night I had him,

the cheeky little bastard. The Thiefmaker was now
seated more comfortably in the rooftop garden of the
Eyeless Priests temple, with a tarred leather cup of
wine in his hands. It was the sourest sort of second-
hand near vinegar, but it was another sign that gen-
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uine negotiations might yet break out. Never hap-

pened before, nor since.
Someone taught him to charm a coat, but didnt
tell him that the yellowjackets were strictly off-limits.
Father Chains pursed his lips. Very curious, that.
Very curious indeed. Our dear Capa Barsavi would so
love to meet such an individual.
I never found out who it was. The boy claimed
hed just taught himself, but thats crap. Five-year-olds
play with dead fish and horse turds, Chains. They
dont invent the finer points of soft-touching and
purse-cutting on a whim.
What did you do about the purses?
I flew back to Catchfire watch station and kissed
asses and boots until my lips were black. Explained to
the watch-captain in question that one of the new-
comers didnt understand how things worked in
Camorr, and that I was returning the purses with in-
terest, begging their magnanimous apologies and all
the gracious etcetera etceteras.
And they accepted?
Money makes a man mirthful, Chains. I stuffed
those purses full to bursting with silver. Then I gave
every man in the squad drink money for five or six
nights and we all agreed they would hoist a few to the
health of Capa Barsavi, who surely neednt be, ahhh,
troubled by something as inconsequential as his loyal
Thiefmaker fucking up and letting a five-year-old
breach the bloody Peace.
So, the Eyeless Priest said, that was just the
very first night of your association with my very own
mystery windfall bargain boy.
Im gratified that youre starting to take a posses-
sive bent to the little cuss, Chains, because it only gets
more colorful. I dont know quite how to put it. Ive
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16 SCOTT LYNCH
got kids that enjoy stealing. Ive got kids that dont
think about stealing one way or another, and Ive got
kids that just tolerate stealing because they know
theyve got nothing else to do. But nobodyand I
mean nobody has ever been hungry for it like this
boy. If he had a bloody gash across his throat and a
physiker was trying to sew it up, Lamora would steal
the needle and thread and die laughing. He . . . steals
too much.
Steals too much, the Eyeless Priest mused. Of
all the complaints I never thought Id hear from a man
who trains little thieves for a living.
Laugh now, the Thiefmaker said. Heres the
kicker.
MONTHS PASSED. Parthis became Festal became Au-

rim, and the misty squalls of summer gave way to the
harder, driving rains of winter. The Seventy-seventh
Year of Gandolo became the Seventy-seventh Year of
Morgante, the City Father, Lord of Noose and
Trowel.
Eight of the thirty-one Catchfire orphans, some-
what less than adept at the Thiefmakers delicate and
interesting tasks, swung from the Black Bridge before
the Palace of Patience. So it went; the survivors were
too preoccupied with their own delicate and interest-
ing tasks to care.
The society of Shades Hill, as Locke soon discov-
ered, was firmly divided into two tribes: Streets and
Windows. The latter was a smaller, more exclusive
group that did all of its earning after sunset. They
crept across roofs and down chimneys, picked locks
and slid through barred embrasures, and would steal
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everything from coins and jewelry to blocks of lard in

untended pantries.
The boys and girls of Streets, on the other hand,
prowled Camorrs alleys and cobbles and canal-
bridges by day, working in teams. Older and more ex-
perienced children (clutchers) worked at the actual
pockets and purses and merchant stalls, while the
younger and less capable (teasers) arranged distrac-
tions crying for nonexistent mothers, or feigning ill-
ness, or rushing madly around crying Stop! Thief !
in every direction while the clutchers made off with
their prizes.
Each orphan was shaken down by an older or
larger child after returning to the graveyard from any
visit outside; anything stolen or gathered was passed
through the hierarchy of bruisers and bullies until it
reached the Thiefmaker, who ticked off names on an
eerily accurate mental list as the days catch came in.
Those who produced got to eat; those who didnt got
to practice twice as hard that evening.
Night after night, the Thiefmaker would parade
around the warrens of Shades Hill laden down with
money pouches, silk handkerchiefs, necklaces, metal
coat buttons, and a dozen other sorts of valuable odd-
ments. His wards would strike at him from conceal-
ment or by feigned accident; those he spotted or felt in
the act were immediately punished. The Thiefmaker
preferred not to beat the losers of these training games
(though he could work a mean switch when the mood
was upon him); rather, they were forced to drink from
a flask of unalloyed ginger oil while their peers gath-
ered around and chanted derisively. Camorri ginger
oil is rough stuff, not entirely incomparable (as the
Thiefmaker himself opined) to swallowing the smol-
dering ashes of poison oak.
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18 SCOTT LYNCH
Those who wouldnt open their mouths had it

poured into their noses while older children held them
upside down. This never had to happen twice to any-
one.
In time, even those with ginger-scalded tongues
and swollen throats learned the rudiments of coat-
teasing and borrowing from the wares of unwary
merchants. The Thiefmaker enthusiastically in-
structed them in the architecture of doublets, waist-
coats, frock coats, and belt pouches, keeping up with
all the latest fashions as they came off the docks. His
wards learned what could be cut away, what could be
torn away, and what must be teased out with deft fin-
gers.
The point, my loves, is not to hump the subjects
leg like a dog or clutch their hand like a lost babe. Half
a second of actual contact with the subject is often too
long by far. The Thiefmaker mimed a noose going
around his neck and let his tongue bulge out past his
teeth. You will live or die by three sacred rules: First,
always ensure that the subject is nicely distracted, ei-
ther by your teasers or by some convenient bit of unre-
lated bum-fuckery, like a fight or a house fire. House
fires are marvelous for our purposes; cherish them.
Second, minimizeand I damn well mean minimize
contact with the subject even when they are dis-
tracted. He released himself from his invisible noose
and grinned slyly. Lastly, once youve done your
business, clear the vicinity even if the subject is as
dumb as a box of hammers. What did I teach you?
Clutch once, then run, his students chanted.
Clutch twice, get hung!
New orphans came in by ones and twos; older chil-
dren seemed to leave the hill every few weeks with lit-
tle ceremony. Locke presumed that this was evidence
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of some category of discipline well beyond ginger oil,

but he never asked, as he was too low in the hills peck-
ing order to risk it or trust the answers he would get.
As for his own training, Locke went to Streets the
day after he arrived, and was immediately thrown in
with the teasers (punitively, he suspected). By the end
of his second month, his skills had secured him eleva-
tion to the ranks of the clutchers. This was considered
a step up in social status, but Lamora alone in the en-
tire hill seemed to prefer working with the teasers long
after he was entitled to stop.
He was sullen and friendless inside the hill, but
teasing brought him to life. He perfected the use of
over-chewed orange pulp as a substitute for vomit;
where other teasers would simply clutch their stom-
achs and moan, Locke would season his performances
by spewing a mouthful of warm white-and-orange
slop at the feet of his intended audience (or, if he was
in a particularly perverse mood, all over their dress
hems or leggings).
Another favorite device of his was a long dry twig
concealed in one leg of his breeches and tied to his an-
kle. By rapidly going down to his knees, he could snap
this twig with an audible noise; this, followed by a
piercing wail, was an effective magnet for attention
and sympathy, especially in the immediate vicinity of a
wagon wheel. When hed teased the crowd long
enough, he would be rescued from further attention by
the arrival of several other teasers, who would loudly
announce that they were dragging him home to
Mother so he could see a physiker. His ability to walk
would be miraculously recovered just as soon as he was
hauled around a corner.
In fact, he worked up a repertoire of artful teases
so rapidly that the Thiefmaker had cause to take him
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20 SCOTT LYNCH
aside for a second private conversationthis after

Locke arranged the inconvenient public collapse of a
young ladys skirt and bodice with a few swift strokes
of a finger-knife.
Look here, Locke-after-your-father Lamora, the
Thiefmaker said, no ginger oil this time, I assure you,
but I would greatly prefer your teases to veer sharply
from the entertaining and back to the practical.
Locke merely stared up at him and shuffled his
feet.
I shall speak plainly, then. The other teasers are
going out day after day to watch you, not to do their
bloody jobs. Im not feeding my own private theater
troupe. Get my crew of happy little jack-offs back to
their own teasing, and quit being such a celebrity with
your own.
For a time after that, everything was serene.
Then, barely six months after he arrived at the hill,
Locke accidentally burned down the Elderglass Vine
tavern and precipitated a quarantine riot that very
nearly wiped the Narrows from the map of Camorr.
The Narrows was a valley of warrens and hovels at
the northernmost tip of the bad part of the city.
Kidney-shaped and something like a vast amphithe-
ater, the islands heart was forty-odd feet beneath its
outer edges. Leaning rows of tenement houses and
windowless shops jutted from the tiers of this great
seething bowl; wall collapsed against wall and alley
folded upon mist-silvered alley so that no level of the
Narrows could be traversed by more than two men
walking abreast.
The Elderglass Vine crouched over the cobble-
stones of the road that passed west and crossed, via
stone bridge, from the Narrows into the green depths
of the Mara Camorrazza. It was a sagging three-story
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beast of weather-warped wood, with rickety stairs in-

side and out that maimed at least one patron a week.
Indeed, there was a lively pool going as to which of the
regulars would be the next to crack his skull. It was a
haunt of pipe-smokers and of Gaze addicts, who
would squeeze the precious drops of their drug onto
their eyeballs in public and lie there shuddering with vi-
sions while strangers went through their belongings or
used them as tables.
The Seventy-seventh Year of Morgante had just ar-
rived when Locke Lamora burst into the common
room of the Elderglass Vine, sobbing and sniffling, his
face showing the red cheeks, bleeding lips, and bruised
eyes that were characteristic of Black Whisper.
Please, sir, he whispered to a horrified bouncer
while dice-throwers, bartenders, whores, and thieves
stopped to stare. Please. Mother and Father are sick;
I dont know whats wrong with them. Im the only
one who can moveyou mustsniffhelp! Please,
sir . . .
At least, thats what would have been heard, had
the bouncer not triggered a headlong exodus from the
Elderglass Vine by screaming Whisper! Black Whis-
per! at the top of his lungs. No boy of Lockes size
could have survived the ensuing orgy of shoving and
panic had not the badge of illness on his face been bet-
ter than any shield. Dice clattered to tabletops and
cards fluttered down like falling leaves; tin mugs and
tarred leather ale-jacks spattered cheap liquor as they
hit the floor. Tables were overturned, knives and clubs
were pulled to prod others into flight, and Gazers
were trampled as an undisciplined wave of human de-
tritus surged out every door save that in which Locke
stood, pleading uselessly (or so it seemed) to screams
and turned backs.
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22 SCOTT LYNCH
When the tavern had cleared of everyone but a few

moaning (or motionless) Gazers, Lockes companions
stole in behind him: a dozen of the fastest teasers and
clutchers in Streets, specially invited by Lamora for
this expedition. They spread out among the fallen ta-
bles and behind the battered bar, plucking wildly at
anything valuable. Here a handful of discarded coins;
there a good knife; here a set of whalebone dice with
tiny garnet chips for markers. From the pantry, bas-
kets of coarse but serviceable bread, salted butter in
grease-paper, and a dozen bottles of wine. Half a
minute was all Locke allowed them, counting in his
head while he rubbed his makeup from his face. By the
end of the count, he motioned his associates back out
into the night.
Riot drums were already beating to summon the
watch, and above their rhythm could be heard the first
faint flutings of pipes, the bone-chilling sound that
called out the dukes Ghoulsthe Quarantine Guard.
The participants in Lockes smash-and-grab ad-
venture threaded their way through the growing
crowds of confused and panicked Narrows dwellers,
and scuttled home indirectly through the Mara
Camorrazza or the Coalsmoke district.
They returned with the largest haul of goods and
food in the memory of the Shades Hill orphans, and a
larger pile of copper half-barons than Locke had
hoped for. He hadnt known that men who played at
dice or cards kept money out in plain view, for in
Shades Hill such games were the exclusive domain of
the oldest and most popular orphans, and he was nei-
ther.
For a few hours, the Thiefmaker was merely be-
mused.
But that night, panicked drunks set fire to the El-
PDF
derglass Vine, and hundreds tried to flee the Narrows

when the city watch was unable to locate the boy
whod first triggered the panic. Riot drums beat until
dawn, bridges were blocked, and Duke Nicovantes
archers took to the canals around the Narrows in flat-
bottomed boats, with arrows to last all night and then
some.
The next morning found the Thiefmaker once
again in private conversation with his littlest plague
orphan.
The problem with you, Locke fucking Lamora, is
that you are not circumspect. Do you know what cir-
cumspect means?
Locke shook his head.
Let me put it like this. That tavern had an owner.
That owner worked for Capa Barsavi, the big man
himself, just like I do. Now, that tavern owner paid
the Capa, just like I do, to avoid accidents. Thanks to
you, hes had one hell of an accident even though he
was paying his money and didnt have an accident
forthcoming. So, if you follow me, inciting a pack of
drunk fucking animals to burn that place to the
ground with a fake plague scare was the opposite of a
circumspect means of operation. So now can you ven-
ture a guess as to what the word means?
Locke knew a good time to nod vigorously when
he heard it.
Unlike the last time you tried to send me to an
early grave, this one I cant buy my way out of, and
thank the gods I dont need to, because the mess is
huge. The yellowjackets clubbed down two hundred
people last night before they all figured out that no-
body had the Whisper. The duke called out his fucking
regulars and was about to give the Narrows a good
scrubbing with fire-oil. Now, the only reasonand I
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24 SCOTT LYNCH
mean the only reasonthat youre not floating in a

sharks stomach with a very surprised expression on
your face is that the Elderglass Vine is just a pile of
ashes; nobody knows anything was stolen from it be-
fore it became that pile of ashes. Nobody except us.
So, were all going to agree that nobody in this hill
knows anything about what happened, and you are go-
ing to relearn some of that reticence I talked about
when you first arrived here. You remember reticence,
right?
Locke nodded.
I just want nice, neat little jobs from you, Lam-
ora. I want a purse here, a sausage there. I want you to
swallow your ambition, shit it out like a bad meal,
and be a circumspect little teaser for about the next
thousand years. Can you do that for me? Dont rob
any more yellowjackets. Dont burn any more taverns.
Dont start any more fucking riots. Just pretend to be
a coarse-witted little cutpurse like your brothers and
sisters. Clear?
Again, Locke nodded, doing his best to look
rueful.
Good. And now, the Thiefmaker said as he pro-
duced his nearly full flask of ginger oil, were going
to engage in some reinforcement of my admonish-
ments.
And, for a time (once Locke recovered his powers
of speech and unlabored breathing), everything was
serene.
But the Seventy-seventh Year of Morgante became
the Seventy-seventh Year of Sendovani, and though
Locke succeeded in hiding his actions from the Thief-
maker for a time, on one more specific occasion he
again failed spectacularly to be circumspect.
When the Thiefmaker realized what the boy had
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done, he went to see the Capa of Camorr and secured

permission for one little death. Only as an after-
thought did he go to see the Eyeless Priest, intent not
on mercy but on one last chance for a slim profit.
THE SKY was a fading red, and nothing remained of

the day save for a line of molten gold slowly lowering
on the western horizon. Locke Lamora trailed in the
long shadow of the Thiefmaker, who was leading him
to the Temple of Perelandro to be sold. At long last,
Locke had discovered where the older children had
been disappearing to.
A great glass arch led from the northwest base of
Shades Hill to the eastern edge of the long, vast Tem-
ple District. At the apex of this bridge the Thiefmaker
paused and stared north, across the lightless houses of
the Quiet, across the mist-wreathed waters of the
rushing Angevine, to the shaded manors and tree-
lined white stone boulevards of the four Alcegrante is-
lands, laid out in opulence beneath the impossible
height of the Five Towers.
The Five were the most prominent Elderglass
structures in a city thick with the arcane substance.
The smallest and least magnificent, Dawncatcher, was
merely eighty feet wide and four hundred feet tall. The
true color of each smooth tower was mingled now
with the sinking furnace-light of sunset, and the web-
like net of cables and cargo baskets that threaded the
tower tops was barely visible against the carmine sky.
Well wait here a moment, boy, said the Thief-
maker with uncharacteristic wistfulness in his voice.
Here on my bridge. So few come to Shades Hill this
way, it might as well be mine.
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26 SCOTT LYNCH
The Dukes Wind that blew in from the Iron Sea by

day had turned; the night, as always, would be ruled
by the muggy Hangmans Wind that blew from land
to sea, thick with the scents of farm fields and rotting
marshes.
Im getting rid of you, you know, the Thief-
maker added after a moment. Not, ahhh, fooling.
Good-bye forever. Its a pity youre missing something.
Common sense, perhaps.
Locke said nothing, instead staring up at the vast
glass towers as the sky behind them drained of color.
The blue-white stars brightened, and the last rays of
the sun vanished in the west like a great eye closing.
As the first hint of true darkness seemed to fall over
the city, a new light rose faint and glimmering to push
it back. This light gleamed from within the Elderglass
of the Five Towers themselves, and within the translu-
cent glass of the bridge on which they were standing.
It waxed with every passing breath, gaining strength
until it bathed the city with the fey half-light of an
overcast day.
The hour of Falselight had come.
From the heights of the Five Towers to the obsid-
ian smoothness of the vast glass breakwaters, to the
artificial reefs beneath the slate-colored waves, False-
light radiated from every surface and every shard of
Elderglass in Camorr, from every speck of the alien
material left so long before by the creatures that had
first shaped the city. Every night, as the west finally
swallowed the sun, the glass bridges would become
threads of firefly light; the glass towers and glass av-
enues and the strange glass sculpture-gardens would
shimmer wanly with violet and azure and orange and
pearl white, and the moons and stars would fade to
gray.
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This was what passed for twilight in Camorrthe

end of work for the last daylight laborers, the calling
of the night watches and the sealing of the landward
gates. An hour of supernatural radiance that would
soon enough give way to true night.
Lets be about our business, the Thiefmaker
said, and the two of them headed down into the Tem-
ple District, walking on soft alien light.
FALSELIGHT was the last hour during which the tem-

ples of Camorr traditionally remained open, and the
Eyeless Priest at the House of Perelandro was wasting
none of the time still left to fill the copper money-
kettle sitting before him on the steps of his decrepit
temple.
Orphans! he bellowed in a voice that would
have been at home on a battlefield. Are we not all or-
phaned, sooner or later? Alas for those torn from the
mothers bosom, barely past infancy!
A pair of slender young boys, presumably orphans,
were seated on either side of the money-kettle, wear-
ing hooded white robes. The eldritch glow of False-
light seemed to inflame the hollow blackness of their
staring eyes as they watched men and women hurry-
ing about their business on the squares and avenues of
the gods.
Alas, the priest continued, for those cast out by
cruel fate to a wicked world that has no place for
them, a world that has no use for them. Slaves is what
it makes of them! Slaves, or worseplaythings for the
lusts of the wicked and the ungodly, forcing them into
half-lives of unspeakable degeneracy, beside which
mere slavery would be a blessing!
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28 SCOTT LYNCH
Locke marveled, for he had never seen a stage per-

formance or heard a trained orator. Here was scorn
that could boil standing water from stone; here was
remonstrance that made his pulse race with excited
shame, though he was himself an orphan. He wanted
to hear the big-voiced man yell at him some more.
So great was the fame of Father Chains, the Eyeless
Priest, that even Locke Lamora had heard of him; a
man of late middle years with a chest as broad as a
scriveners desk and a beard that clung to his craggy
face like a pad of scrubbing wool. A thick white blind-
fold covered his forehead and his eyes, a white cotton
vestment hung to his bare ankles, and a pair of black
iron manacles encircled his wrists. Heavy steel chains
led from these manacles back up the steps of the tem-
ple, and through the open doors to the interior. Locke
could see that as Father Chains gestured to his listen-
ers, these chains were almost taut. He was nearly at
the very limit of his freedom.
For thirteen years, popular lore had it, Father
Chains had never set foot beyond the steps of his tem-
ple. As a measure of his devotion to Perelandro, Fa-
ther of Mercies, Lord of the Overlooked, he had
chained himself to the walls of his inner sanctuary
with iron manacles that had neither locks nor keys,
and had paid a physiker to pluck out his eyes while a
crowd watched.
The Lord of the Overlooked keeps vigil on every
son and daughter of the dead, on that point I can as-
sure you! Blessed in his eyes are those, unbound by the
duties of blood, who render aid and comfort to the
motherless and the fatherless. . . .
Though he was known to be blind as well as blind-
folded, Locke could have sworn that Father Chains
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head turned toward himself and the Thiefmaker as

they approached across the square.
Out of the undoubted goodness of their hearts,
they nourish and protect the children of Camorrnot
with cold-souled avarice, but with selfless kindness!
Truly blessed, he hissed with fervor, are the protec-
tors of Camorrs gentle, needful orphans.
As the Thiefmaker reached the steps of the temple
and started up, he was careful to slap his heels against
the stones to announce his presence.
Someone approaches, Father Chains said. Two
someones, or so say my ears!
Ive brought you the boy we discussed, Father,
the Thiefmaker announced loudly enough for several
passersby to hear him, should they be listening. Ive
prepared him as well as I could for the, ahhhh, tests of
apprenticeship and initiation.
The priest took a step toward Locke, dragging his
clattering chains behind him. The hooded boys guard-
ing the money-kettle spared Locke a brief glance, but
said nothing.
Have you, then? Father Chains hand shot out
with alarming accuracy, and his callused fingers spi-
dered themselves over Lockes forehead, cheeks, nose,
and chin. A small boy, it seems. A very small boy.
Though not without a certain measure of character, I
venture, in the malnourished curves of his sad or-
phans face.
His name, said the Thiefmaker, is Locke Lam-
ora, and I wager the Order of Perelandro will find
many uses for his, ahhhh, unusual degree of personal
initiative.
Better still, the priest rumbled, that he were
sincere, penitent, honest, and inclined to discipline.
But I have no doubt that his time in your affectionate
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30 SCOTT LYNCH
care has instilled those qualities in him by example.

He clapped his hands together three times. My boys,
our days business is done; gather the offerings of the
good people of Camorr, and lets show our prospec-
tive initiate into the temple.
The Thiefmaker gave Locke a brief squeeze on the
shoulder, then pushed him quite enthusiastically up
the steps toward the Eyeless Priest. As the white-robed
boys carried the jangling copper bowl past him, the
Thiefmaker tossed a small leather purse into it, spread
his arms wide, and bowed with his characteristic ser-
pentine theatricality. The last Locke saw of him, he
was moving rapidly across the Temple District with
his crooked arms and bony shoulders rolling gaily: the
strut of a man set free.
THE SANCTUARY of the Temple of Perelandro was a

musty stone chamber with several puddles of standing
water; the mold-eaten tapestries on the walls were
rapidly devolving into their component threads. It was
lit only by the pastel glare of Falselight and the half-
hearted efforts of a frosted white alchemical globe
perched precariously in a fixture just above the steel
plate that chained the Eyeless Priest to the sanctuary
wall. Locke saw a curtained doorway on the back
wall, and nothing else.
Calo, Galdo, said Father Chains, be good lads
and see to the doors, will you?
The two robed boys set down the copper kettle
and moved to one of the tapestries. Working together,
they swept it aside and pulled at a concealed device.
Some great mechanism creaked in the sanctuary walls,
and the twin doors leading out to the temple steps be-
PDF
gan to draw inward. When they finished sliding

together with the scrape of stone against stone, the al-
chemical globe suddenly flared into brighter lumines-
cence.
Now, said the Eyeless Priest as he knelt, letting a
great deal of slack chain gather in little steel mounds
about him, come over here, Locke Lamora, and lets
see if you have any of the gifts necessary to become an
initiate of this temple.
With Father Chains on his knees, Locke and he
were roughly forehead to forehead. In response to
Chains beckoning hands, Locke stepped close and
waited. The priest wrinkled his nose.
I see that your former master remains less than
fastidious about the pungency of his wards; no matter.
That will soon be rectified. For now, simply give me
your hands, like so. Chains firmly but gently guided
Lockes small hands until the boys palms rested over
Chains blindfold. Now . . . merely close your eyes
and concentrate . . . concentrate. Let whatever virtuous
thoughts you have within you bubble to the surface,
let the warmth of your generous spirit flow forth from
your innocent hands. Ah, yes, like that . . .
Locke was half-alarmed and half-amused, but the
lines of Father Chains weathered face drew down-
ward, and his mouth soon hung open in beatific antic-
ipation.
Ahhhhhhh, the priest whispered, his voice thick
with emotion. Yes, yes, you do have some talent . . .
some power. . . . I can feel it. . . . It might almost be . . . a
miracle!
At that, Chains jerked his head back, and Locke
jumped in the opposite direction. His chains clanking,
the priest lifted manacled hands to his blindfold and
yanked it off with a flourish. Locke recoiled, unsure of
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32 SCOTT LYNCH
what eyeless sockets might look like, but the priests

eyes were quite normal. In fact, Chains squinted in
pain and rubbed them several times, wincing at the
glare of the alchemical globe.
Ahhhh-ha-ha-ha! he cried, finally holding out
his hands toward Locke. Im healed! I can see! once!
more!
Locke stared, gaping like a slackwit for the second
time that night, unsure of what to say. Behind him, the
two hooded boys started to giggle, and Lockes eye-
brows bent inward in suspicion.
Youre not . . . really blind, he said.
And youre clearly not stupid! Chains cried,
leaping up with a glee that brought wet-sounding
pops from his kneecaps. He waved his manacled
hands like a bird trying to take flight. Calo! Galdo!
Get these damn things off my wrists so we can count
our daily blessings.
The two hooded boys hurried over and did some-
thing to the manacles that Locke couldnt quite fol-
low; they slid open and fell to the floor with a jarring
clatter. Chains gingerly rubbed the skin that had been
beneath them; it was as white as the meat of a fresh
fish.
Youre not . . . really a priest! Locke added while
the older man caressed some color back into his fore-
arms.
Oh no, Chains said, I am a priest. Just not a
priest of, um, Perelandro. Nor are my initiates initiates
of Perelandro. Nor will you be an initiate of Pere-
landro. Locke Lamora, say hello to Calo and Galdo
Sanza.
The white-robed boys swept back their hoods, and
Locke saw that they were twins, perhaps a year or two
older than himself and far sturdier-looking. They had
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the olive skin and black hair of the true Camorri.

Their identical long, hook-ended noses, however, were
something of an anomaly. Smiling, they joined hands
and bowed in unison from the waist.
Um, hi, Locke said. Which of you is which?
Today, I am Galdo, said the one on Lockes left.
Tomorrow, I will probably be Galdo, said the
other one.
Or perhaps well both want to be Calo, added
the one who had first spoken.
In time, Father Chains interrupted, youll learn
to tell them apart by the number of dents Ive kicked
in their respective asses; one of them always manages
to be ahead of the other, somehow. He stood behind
Locke and placed both of his wide, heavy hands on
Lockes shoulders. Idiots, this is Locke Lamora. As
you can see, Ive just bought him from your old bene-
factor, the master of Shades Hill.
We remember you, said presumed-Galdo.
A Catchfire orphan, said presumed-Calo.
Father Chains bought us just after you arrived,
they said in unison, grinning.
Knock that bullshit off, Father Chains said, his
voice somehow regal. You two have just volunteered
to cook dinner. Pears and sausage in oil, and a double
portion for your new little brother. Get. Locke and I
will deal with the kettle.
Sneering and gesturing rudely as they went, the
twins ran for the curtained door and vanished behind
it. Locke could hear their footsteps trailing away
down some sort of staircase; then Father Chains mo-
tioned for him to sit beside the copper money-kettle.
Sit, boy. Lets have a few words about whats go-
ing on here. Chains eased himself back down to the
damp floor, crossing his legs and settling a thoughtful
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34 SCOTT LYNCH
stare on Locke. Your former master said you could

do simple sums. Is this true?
Yes, Master.
Dont call me master. Makes my balls shrivel
and my teeth crack. Just call me Father Chains. And
while youre sitting there, lets see you tip that kettle
and count all the money in there.
Locke strained to pull the kettle over on one side,
seeing now why Calo and Galdo preferred to share the
burden. Chains gave the kettle a push on the base, and
its contents finally spilled out on the floor beside
Locke. Makes it much harder to snatch, having it
weigh that much, Chains said.
How can you . . . how can you pretend to be a
priest? Locke asked while he sorted full copper coins
and clipped copper bits into little piles. Dont you
fear the gods? The wrath of Perelandro?
Of course I do, Chains replied, running his fin-
gers through his round, ragged beard. I fear them
very much. Like I said, Im a priest, just not a priest of
Perelandro. Im an initiated servant of the Nameless
Thirteenththe Thiefwatcher, the Crooked Warden,
the Benefactor, Father of Necessary Pretexts.
But . . . there are only the Twelve.
Its funny just how many people are sadly misin-
formed on that point, my dear boy. Imagine, if you
will, that the Twelve happen to have something of a
black-sheep younger brother, whose exclusive domin-
ion happens to be thieves like you and I. Though the
Twelve wont allow his Name to be spoken or heard,
they have some lingering affection for his merry brand
of fuckery. Thus, crooked old posers such as myself
arent blasted with lightning or pecked apart by crows
for squatting in the temple of a more respectable god
like Perelandro.
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Youre a priest of this . . . Thirteenth?

Indeed. A priest of thieves, and a thieving priest.
As Calo and Galdo will be, someday, and as you might
be, provided youre worth even the pittance I paid for
you.
But . . . Locke reached out and plucked the
Thiefmakers purse (a pouch of rust-red leather) from
the piles of copper and passed it to Chains. If you
paid for me, why did my old master leave an offer-
ing?
Ah. Rest assured that I did pay for you, and you
were cheap, and this is no offering. Chains untied the
little pouch and let its contentsa single white sharks
tooth, as long as Lockes thumbdrop into his hand.
Chains waved it at the boy. Have you ever seen one
of these before?
No. What is it?
Its a death-mark. The tooth of the wolf shark is
the personal sigil of Capa Barsaviyour former mas-
ters boss. My boss and your boss, for that matter. It
means that youre such a sullen, thick-skulled little
fuck-up that your former master actually went to the
capa and got permission to kill you.
Chains grinned, as though he were imparting noth-
ing more than a ribald joke. Locke shivered.
Does that give you a moment of pause, my boy?
Good. Stare at this thing, Locke. Take a good, hard
look. It means your death is paid for. I bought this
from your former master when I got you at a bargain
price. It means that if Duke Nicovante himself
adopted you tomorrow and proclaimed you his heir, I
could still crack your skull open and nail you to
a post, and nobody in the city would lift a fucking
finger.
Chains deftly shoved the tooth back into the red
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36 SCOTT LYNCH
pouch, then hung it around Lockes neck by its slender

cord. Youre going to wear that, the older man said,
until I deem you worthy to remove it, or until I make
use of the power it gives me andso! He slashed two
fingers across the air in front of Lockes throat. Hide
it under your clothes, and keep it next to your skin at
all times to remind you just how close, how very close,
you came to getting your throat slit tonight. If your
former master were one shade less greedy than he is
vindictive, I dont doubt youd be floating in the bay.
What did I do?
Chains did something with his eyes that made
Locke feel smaller just for having tried to protest.
Locke squirmed and fiddled with the death-mark
pouch.
Please, boy. Lets not start out with either of us in-
sulting the others intelligence. There are only three
people in life you can never foolpawnbrokers,
whores, and your mother. Since your mothers dead,
Ive taken her place. Hence, Im bullshit-proof.
Chainss voice grew serious. You know perfectly well
why your former master would have cause to be dis-
pleased with you.
He said I wasnt . . . circumspect.
Circumspect, Chains repeated. Thats a good
word. And no, youre not. He told me everything.
Locke looked up from his little piles of coins, his
eyes wide and near watering. Everything?
Quite everything. Chains stared the boy down
for a long, difficult moment, then sighed. So what
did the good citizens of Camorr give to the cause of
Perelandro today?
Twenty-seven copper barons, I think.
Hmmm. Just over four silver solons, then. A slow
day. But it beats every other form of theft I ever met.
PDF
You steal this money from Perelandro, too?

Of course I do, boy. I mentioned that I was a
thief, didnt I? But not the sort of thief youre used to.
Better. The entire city of Camorr is full of idiots run-
ning around and getting hung, all because they think
that stealing is something you do with your hands.
Father Chains spat.
Um . . . what do you steal with, Father Chains?
The bearded priest tapped two fingers against the
side of his head, then grinned widely. Brains and a
big mouth, my boy, brains and a big mouth. I planted
my ass here thirteen years ago, and the pious suckers
of Camorr have been feeding me coins ever since. Plus
Im famous from Emberlain to Tal Verrar, which is
pleasant, though mostly I like the cold coinage.
Isnt it uncomfortable? Locke asked, looking
around at the sad innards of the temple. Living here,
never going out?
Chains chuckled. This shabby little backstage is
no more the full extent of my temple than your old
home was really a graveyard. Were a different sort of
thief here, Lamora. Deception and misdirection are
our tools. We dont believe in hard work when a false
face and a good line of bullshit can do so much more.
Then . . . youre like . . . teasers.
Perhaps, in the sense that a barrel of fire-oil is
akin to a pinch of red pepper. And thats why I paid
for you, my boy, though you lack the good sense the
gods gave a carrot. You lie like a floor tapestry. Youre
more crooked than an acrobats spine. I could really
make something of you, if I decided I could trust
you.
His searching eyes rested once more on Locke, and
the boy guessed that he was supposed to say some-
thing.
PDF
38 SCOTT LYNCH
Id like that, he whispered. What do I do?

You can start by talking. I want to hear about
what you did at Shades Hill; the shit you pulled to get
your former master angry at you.
But . . . you said you already knew everything.
I do. But I want to hear it from you, plain and
clear, and I want it right the first time, with no back-
tracking or parts left out. If you try to conceal any-
thing that I know you should be mentioning, Ill have
no choice but to consider you a worthless waste of my
trustand youre already wearing my response
around your neck.
Then where, said Locke with only a slight catch
in his voice, do I start?
We can begin with your most recent transgres-
sions. Theres one law that the brothers and sisters of
Shades Hill must never break, but your former master
told me that you broke it twice and thought you were
clever enough to get away with it.
Lockes cheeks turned bright red, and he stared
down at his fingers.
Tell me, Locke. The Thiefmaker said you arranged
the murders of two other Shades Hill boys, and that
he didnt pick up on your involvement until the second
was already done. Chains steepled his fingers before
his face and gazed calmly at the boy with the death-
mark around his neck. I want to know why you killed
them, and I want to know how you killed them, and I
want to hear it from your own lips. Right now.
PDF
Order a copy of
THE LIES OF
LOCKE LAMORA
By Scott Lynch!
On sale now!

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Lync_9780553588941_3p_all_r5.qxp:Lync_0553804677_1p_all_r1.

qxp 10/30/13 10:47 AM Page vii

DEL REY NEW YORK

objection right back down his throat. Im sure you

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 3

Galdo, and Sabetha might be able to use a new play-

ON THE night the Lamora boy had come to live under

thought of himself as an artist. A sculptor, to be pre-

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 5

Plagues were a time of special opportunity for the

Thiefmaker hadnt even chosen him; the boy had sim-

THE EYELESS Priest scratched his gray-stubbled

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 7

pound some wisdom into him and let him ripen to a

AN OLD Camorri proverb has it that the only con-

Aza Guilla, who sleep in tombs during their appren-

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 9

tunnel lit by the flickering silver fire of cool alchemical

decent meal, my dears. So eat your fill; eat more than

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 11

friends, my dears. What I offer is security by virtue of

held up four fingers. This is my fourth important

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 13

Very good. Rolls right off the tongue, it does.

Thought so. My dear, dear boy . . . you didnt,

HE BROKE the Secret Peace the first night I had him,

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 15

uine negotiations might yet break out. Never hap-

MONTHS PASSED. Parthis became Festal became Au-

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 17

everything from coins and jewelry to blocks of lard in

Those who wouldnt open their mouths had it

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 19

of some category of discipline well beyond ginger oil,

aside for a second private conversationthis after

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 21

beast of weather-warped wood, with rickety stairs in-

When the tavern had cleared of everyone but a few

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 23

derglass Vine, and hundreds tried to flee the Narrows

mean the only reasonthat youre not floating in a

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 25

done, he went to see the Capa of Camorr and secured

THE SKY was a fading red, and nothing remained of

The Dukes Wind that blew in from the Iron Sea by

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 27

This was what passed for twilight in Camorrthe

FALSELIGHT was the last hour during which the tem-

Locke marveled, for he had never seen a stage per-

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 29

head turned toward himself and the Thiefmaker as

care has instilled those qualities in him by example.

THE SANCTUARY of the Temple of Perelandro was a

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 31

gan to draw inward. When they finished sliding

what eyeless sockets might look like, but the priests

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 33

the olive skin and black hair of the true Camorri.

stare on Locke. Your former master said you could

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 35

Youre a priest of this . . . Thirteenth?

pouch, then hung it around Lockes neck by its slender

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA 37

You steal this money from Perelandro, too?